Chase gently said, “Sweetheart, let’s get you back to our bed so you can sleep.” I sighed mumbling, “Can’t move.” Chase chuckled and sat me up. He put the t-shirt over my head. I asked, “Whose t-shirt is this?” Chase snorted, “It’s mine. Like I’d ever give you another man’s shirt to wear.” Chase picked me up and jogged back to the house.

I was asleep before we made it to our room. I woke up groggily, “Mommy! Mommy! Save me! The bad man is coming!” My eyes snapped open. Emmett was in front of me. I asked, “Emmett?” He nodded, “Mommy save me!” I pleaded asking, “How? Tell me how! I’ll protect you, Emmett! I love you.”

He handed me my necklace. It was my mom’s necklace. I wore it all the time. I’d just left it at my fairy house instead of here. He put it in my hand explaining, “You have to wear this, mommy. It will save me. The bad man made a compromise with the other bad man. He’s going to try to kill me. A nice lady came to me and said I had to tell you to wear this all the time and I’d be fine.”

I questioned, “A nice lady?” He nodded, “She said I was a child of hers too. She looked so pretty mommy. Not you pretty though. You're the prettiest of all the mommies. She said my wolf would be the fastest around! Even faster than my brothers!”

I gaped, “Brothers?” He nodded, “I have six younger brothers and two little sisters, and my twin sister of course.” I shouted, “I will KILL Chase!” Emmett laughed, “Only four of them are WHOOPSIES! At least that’s what the pretty lady said. She said your little sister and her wolf cause them.”

I put it together asking, “Haley?” He nodded, “I think that’s what she said. I asked if it was Aunt Haley and she nodded.” I laughed, “I’ll have to tell her to watch it!” He giggled, “She has way more kids than you do! The pretty lady showed me a picnic we had with them! There were like A LOT of them!”

I laughed asking, “How many?” Emmett shrugged, “I dunno. LOTS! More than us.” I pressed, “More than ten?” Emmett nodded emphatically. He answered, “WAYYY More! Max is my bestest friend! We hunt frogs together!” I was confused, “Max?” Emmett said, “Oh right, he’s not born yet. He’s younger than me. I’m friends with EJ and Alexander too. Cassie and Emma are friends too.” I teased, “Is that so?”

Haley was going to have a little boy named Max. I smiled. Emmett nudged me, “So you’ll wear the necklace?” I nodded, “I will. I meant to go get it this week, I just forgot.” Emmett told me, “It’s on your nightstand in your room.” I gasped, “What?” He flew away from me.

My eyes opened and there on my nightstand was my mother’s necklace. I quickly put it on. I touched it and took a deep breath. Out loud I said, “I know it’s crazy, but I feel like you’re protecting me mom.” I knew who it was though. It was my little sister who’d either done the protections on the necklace herself or gotten someone else to do it. The War Goddess had to be who sent Emmett to me in the dream.

I called Haley. She answered, “Hello Lexi, how did your night go?” I laughed, “I got quite a few people playing catch the wolf and or fast Hood member.” I heard a startled choke. Haley giggled, “You found the outfits?” I teased, “Did I ever.”

I heard Eric ask, “Angel, what did you do now?” Haley said, “I made everyone’s lives more fun. That’s what I fucking did.” I agreed, “She so did.” I walked down the stairs. I said, “I had an interesting dream.” Haley asked me, “About what?” I answered, “My son. He told me I had to wear my necklace, my mom’s necklace, at all times. The bad man is going to try to kill him.” She yelled, “I’ll go fucking Troll hunting right now! That bastard!”

I chuckled, “Then he told me about all my kids. Some of which are apparently yours and Eric’s fault. How is that possible? I have no clue. Emmett is best friends with your son Max.” Haley asked, “Max?” I answered, “Yup. He’s younger than Emmett but they are, and I quote my unborn son here, bestest friends. You have WAY more than ten kids. By the way, in case you were curious about the number of kids I have that are somehow your and Eric’s fault... it’s four. I have TEN KIDS! TEN!”

Haley giggled, “Then you probably have more twins.” I said, “I knew that already from the future sneak preview you gave me. Aren’t you going to comment on the way more than ten kids’ thing?” Haley told me, “I want a lot of kids.” I shrieked, “More than ten?” Haley nonchalantly replied, “Yeah, I mean we have so many rooms here. Apparently, I’m fucking rich in this realm. Eric is in his words is well off. I’ll take all the kids.” Eric being described as well off was hilarious. The man was a billionaire. I laughed, “You would.” I was really happy for her.

The doorbell rang. I went over to it and opened the door. The human delivery guy said, “I have a delivery for Alpha Chase.” I replied, “Well I’m his…. uhhh... umm... girlfriend. I’ll sign.” The boxes said perishable.

I signed then said, “Haley, I’ve got to let you go. It looks like some food just got delivered. I’m going to put it away.” I hung up as I heard Alpha Eric say something. I flashed into the kitchen and opened the box. The smell of brownies wafted to me. I smiled delightfully squealing, “MMMM brownies!” They were even my favorite. Brownies with fudge on top. I gobbled one down.

I heard Chase scream, “LEXI, WHERE ARE YOU?!” A second later a pop sounded, and the box was knocked away from me. I stared at Haley in surprise as she looked at me with concern on her face. She was intently focused on me as if she was trying to sense something.

Chase, Matt, Frank, and Derrick ran into the kitchen all looking worried. Alpha Eric was smelling the box. I asked, “What? It’s just brownies. They were for Chase, but I didn’t think he’d care if I ate one.” Chase ran to me and looked me up and down. He demanded to know, “How many did you eat?” I answered, “One? Why?”

Chase explained, “We don’t get food delivered to the house. The kitchen staff goes grocery shopping.” My heart stopped. I looked at Haley, “What did I eat?” Haley answered, “I don’t know, but I don’t sense anything that needs to be healed. You are completely fine, and so are the twins. I’ll be right back.” She popped away.

Eric growled, “One damn day I’ll get her to stop doing that.” Tears slid out of my eyes. I whispered, “What did I do, Chase?” Chase grabbed my chin, “Nothing. You ate a brownie. This isn’t your fault.” The pack doctor rushed in.

Haley popped back with Katie and Logan. Eric grabbed her and Katie examined the brownies. She gasped and dropped them. She looked at me in horror. She asked me, “Are you wearing your necklace?” I grabbed the chain. I admitted, “I had a dream. Emmett said I had to wear it or….” I trailed off.

My eyes widened as the realization set in. The brownies were meant to kill Emmett. Anger exploded inside me like dynamite. I looked at Derrick, “Tell Sally to get up here RIGHT NOW!” I looked at Katie, “That was going to kill my son, wasn’t it? Emmett warned me, and then some fucking brownie, MY FUCKING FAVORITE BROWNIE, shows up for Chase!”

Katie answered, “Yes, this would’ve caused you to lose one of the children. I’ll have to take the spell down to discover which one.” I told her, “Don’t fucking bother, I know which one.” I grabbed my phone and called Heath.

He answered, “Lexi?” I barked out questions, “What’s Noah’s drop? How does he get messages? He wouldn’t change it.” Heath said, “If I knew that I’d have caught him.” I argued, “You have something he’d check a number. SOMETHING!”

Sally interjected, “I have a number he’d check. You can’t track it, but I have a number.” I said, “Bye Heath.” Heath yelled, “Wait!” I hung up. I questioned, “What’s the number Sally?” Chase jumped into the conversation, “What are you doing?”

I ground out, “I have a fucking message for him. That’s what I’m fucking doing.” Haley was onboard, “Fuck yes, bitch! Can I also get this number?” Sally snorted, “You’d fill it up and he’d stop checking it.” Haley sighed, “Fuck your valid point.” Eric laughed and kissed her.

Chase asked, “The magic from the necklace protects Emmett from this? Whatever spell is on the brownie didn’t work? Emmett is ok?” Katie nodded, “I thought I was being paranoid making this necklace super strong, but it seems I’m not so paranoid. The momma in me knew she needed every protection possible. This is an old spell, very dark and targeted. I only thought to guard against this type of spell because we know my dad was involved at some point prior to his death.”

Sally put the number in my phone as Heath stormed into the kitchen with Ted right behind him. I turned around to face the counter when I heard the beep. I hissed, “YOU ARE NOT EVEN A LIEUTENANT ANYMORE SO I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING TO CALL YOU BUT A TROLL! You MOTHERFUCKING ASSHOLE! How many times do you have to fail to get it through your head? I’m not yours! I was NEVER yours! I’m Chase’s.”

I shouted reiterating, “Not yours, not Hanson’s, CHASE’S! My daughter IS NOT HANSON’S! DO YOU HEAR ME YOU PRETENTIOUS, PSYCHOTIC COWARD?! Why don’t YOU come at me? Stop hiding behind your notes, witches, warlocks, rogues, AND YOUR FUCKING BROWNIES!”

I furiously continued, “My son is not dead by the way. He’s perfectly healthy and fine. You just made the biggest mistake OF YOUR LIFE! Threaten my son's life and make a move to kill him?! I don’t fucking think so. I will HUNT you down…”

Haley shouted, “FUCK YES SHE WILL!” I continued, “I will make you BLEED! You will regret EVER laying eyes on me by the time I’m fucking finished with you! You should’ve known better. You should’ve known what happens when you try to kill a child. Because you and I BOTH know there’s not a damn place in any realm you could hide from now. I’ll hunt you down like the DOG you are! Be watching over your shoulder because I have a FUCKING QUIVER OF ARROWS WITH YOUR GODDAMN NAME ON THEM!” I hung up the phone.